When I started writing The Teacher Chronicles, I didn’t have a particular setting in mind. I had my characters, I knew where I wanted the story to go, but I wasn’t set on where I wanted the story to unfold. This is a big reason I don’t write contemporary fiction. I much prefer to create fantasy worlds that can be whatever I want. I live with imposter syndrome, and I always worry when I write about real places I might get something wrong. It just so happened, as I was writing this story I was also learning more about my town and my family’s history.
My great-grandmother attended Morris Harvey College, now Charleston University. When the college moved from Barboursville to Charleston the empty buildings eventually became the local junior high, where both my grandparents attended, along with my mom and her two brothers. It’s since been replaced by a garden area and the old dorms are now a Veteran’s home.
I began to wonder what our little town of Barboursville would be if the campus still stood. What would it look like if the diner and grocery store were still located along Central and Main Street? Then I remembered I didn’t have to wonder, I was a writer, I could create it myself. Thus, Jane, Megan, Daisy, and Alex were given a home, their story finally had a foundation. I used reality and my skill in fantasy writing to create a Barboursville that could have been.
There are more pieces of Barboursville sprinkled throughout the book, but you’ll have to buy the book in August to read more!
